MTQ's For Real Mother's Day Tribute

If you're looking for that sappy, crappy stuff, grab your tissue box and proceed to a different blog; you're definitely at the wrong place.  These "personal" posts are always the most difficult for me.  Maybe it's a guy thing - many of us are not inclined to share feelings and I'm not one to encourage my family to read my blog.  After all, the name of the blog is "My Turn," not "Family Turn" or "Wife's Turn" or "Your Turn".


Now, I turn to Mother's Day.  My wife can be a real ball buster, but she is a first rate mother to our 3 kids.  At times, I think back to my dairy farm experience.  Often when a cow gave birth, she would not return to the barn at milking time.  The mother cow would remain with her newborn and it would be necessary to go out to the pasture to find cow and calf.  Once found, we would load the calf onto the truck to return to the barn.  It was interesting to observe the relationship between mother cow and calf.  Almost all mother cow's would follow the truck that was carrying their calf back to the barn, some more urgently than others.  A few even passive cows could become aggressive and would "charge" like a bull when you tried to load their calf.  If my wife were a cow, she would definitely be one of those that charged the truck to protect her kids.

I know some may be taken aback when I said she can be a ball buster; she frequently is and at times this is a very positive quality.  Early in our relationship, there were times when I would grab my crotch, jiggle them at her and say, "woman, you haven't broken my spirit, yet."  My wife sets standards for the kids, (husband and co-workers too); sometimes they feel a bit too high and she isn't all that flexible.  But, she is consistent and by setting her standards, I believe she is very responsible for our children achieving the high level of success that they have.  (Additionally, she achieves considerable success in her role as a school monitor and often is responsible for the achievement of kids not expected to achieve largely because of her tenacity and consistency.)    Over the years, I have watched as she was the Number #1 fan for our oldest daughter, attended numerous dance events with our other daughter and listened intently to the creative jabbering of our son.

And to my wife, as we share the financial and emotional stress of preparing to send two off to college and while finances do not permit a royal recognition, please understand that you are loved by at least 3 kids and 1 husband (who's spirit remains, unbroken).  Happy Mother's Day!